Preparation and Optimization of Poly-Tannic Acid Nanoparticles as Potential Polymeric Drug or Drug Delivery Carrier

Tannic acid (TA), as a common natural catechol derivative, has been widely applied as antibacterial drug or in the construction of carriers for drug delivery with metal ions. However, unlike dopamine, another catechol derivative whose polymerized form of nanoparticles have been successfully constructed and adopted in various biomedical fields, the development of poly-TA nanoparticles (PTANPs) is rarely reported and the optimization studies are even less. Therefore, the understanding of details and information regarding to the synthesis of PTANPs can provide insights into the polymerization process of TA and inspire the development of other catechol derivatives based nanoscale platforms for diverse scientific applications. Herein, we used a typical sodium hydroxide (NaOH) triggered polymerization followed by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) degradation to prepare PTANPs. In our study, we explored the impact of temperature, weight/volume of reactants (TA, NaOH and H2O2) and reaction time (NaOH and H2O2) on the size of finally obtained PTANPs, which can give guidance and inspiration for future researches and facilitate the studies of followers.